Pedro Almodovar's Women On The Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown Series Lands Gina Rodriguez
Have you ever wanted to watch a movie you've already seen, but longer? And more segmented? And with completely different actors? Don't worry, a large corporation and a talented director have heard your cries and are bringing you exactly what you've always wanted, a TV adaptation of Pedro Almodóvar's 1988 film "Women On the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown" streaming exclusively on Apple TV+. That's what you wanted right? Of course it was! Forget about special directors cuts and extended editions, every movie you love can totally be a TV show. TV is more and more is always better! Leave it all on the dance floor!
Almodóvar's original film follows the story of Pepa, a voice actress who is thrown into a series of bizarre circumstances, including poisoned gazpacho, a hijacked plane, and so much more, after her voice actor boyfriend leaves her. "Women On the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown" was performed as a musical in 2010, so why not take it all the way and go full "Beetlejuice?" Who needs new stories when the old ones work just fine?
Movie On the Verge of a TV Show
Look, this isn't the first time a movie has gone through the selective process of becoming a TV show. There's "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and "Clueless" and, more recently, "Fargo," but it feels weird every time. Why an Almodóvar movie from the 80s? Why right now? Why on Apple TV+? These are all question we may or may not get answers to, but its fun to ponder. The film industry is perplexing and mystical and surprisingly opaque despite the constant deluge of press releases.
Speaking of press releases, while we don't know much about what the TV version of "Women On the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown" will look like, or if it'll ever see the light of day, The Hollywood Reporter is saying that Gina Rodriguez ("Jane the Virgin") may star in the show as Pepa, who was played by Carmen Maura in the film version. Maura won awards for her portrayal of Pepa at the European Film Awards and the Goya Awards, so her version of Pepa will be a hard one to beat, but I'm sure Rodriguez will put her own spin on the role. And considering she'll be executive producing alongside Almodóvar, she's clearly invested in this new adaptation.
Besides Almodóvar and Rodriguez, Noelle Valdivia ("Masters of Sex") will be writing the script and working as showrunner. Molly Breeskin (from I Can and I Will Productions) is hopping on the executive producer team along with 3Pas Studios' Eugenio Derbez and Ben Odell and Sonia Gambaro will co-produce. We'll see where this one goes, but until then, you can always immerse yourself in the original.